OC, Franklin boys roll, Knight girls drop final, Oriole ladies get big win

Oil City used a balanced attack to outlast Rocky Grove in the opening round of the Dick Russell Memorial Tournament Thursday night in Franklin. 

Franklin did the same with a commanding 81-point effort over Karns City, who scored a fair amount with 61.

Ethen Knox netted a team-high 19 points in Oil City's 59-40 victory. He was one of three Oilers to make it to double digits on the night. Fellow senior Sayyid Donald had 10 points despite finding himself in foul trouble early in the second half. 

After a slow start by both teams, it looked like Oil City might cruise to an easy victory over the Orioles.

Rocky Grove fought back from a 14-point deficit to close the gap at 28-20 at the half and made more headway in the third. Back-to-back buckets by Schiffer Anderson and Noah Baughman lowered Oil City's lead to three.

But that's as close as Rocky Grove got.

Will McMahon recorded 14 of his 15 points in the second half to help the Oilers pull away with the victory. 

Baughman had a game-high 20 points for Rocky Grove.  

​Franklin's Damon Curry was on fire early. His first three 3-pointers were nothing but net. A turned ankle did slow him down a bit, but he still scored a game-high 27 points in the effort.

Damarco Payne dropped in 17 and Cole Buckley 16 for the Knights who are now 5-3 on the season. They will face Rocky Grove in the nightcap on Friday. The Dick Russell Memorial isn't a championship-style tournament. Oil City will face Karns City in the 6 p.m. game.

Across the county in Cranberry, the Franklin girls kept it close in the championship final against Harbor Creek but ended up falling behind in the second, losing to the Huskies by 21. Harbor Creek kept Katie Boal to just two points. Jenn Blum was Franklin's top scorer with 11 

Up in Erie, the Rocky Grove girls scored 41 en route to 15-point win over Iroquois. The Orioles will take on Youngsville tonight for the championship.

Below are more photos from Thursday at the Dick Russell tourney.